Donald Trump has banned CNN, Politico & MS NOW from covering the White House – a direct attack on press freedom in the United States. The president said in a social media post that the ban was due to “their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” Those 3 outlets responded by filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration on first amendment grounds. The 27-page filing argues that the president’s move violated the defendants’ due process rights and protections for newsgathering. Wh

Courtesy: Noah Berger/The Associated press Meta has agreed to pay $18 billion to settle a lawsuit with 52 American state attorneys general over teen safety on their platforms. This suit alleged that Meta designed their apps to get children addicted, misled consumers about safety and improperly collected the personal data of children. The landmark agreement will also see Meta impose 2-hour daily limits and nighttime bans for children on Facebook and Instagram. There will also

Courtesy: Evan Mitsui & Tijana Martin The elimination of local news and sports media in Canada continues at an alarming rate. On July 7th, Rogers Sports and Media announced they have shuttered 6 radio stations, resulting directly in 80 job losses. In total, 230 employees were dismissed by Rogers in this round of cuts, and 60 Unifor members were among those impacted. On July 16th, Corus announced they are moving technical production of their shows in Calgary & Edmonton, to To

Courtesy: Rogers Sports & Media Rogers Sports and Media continue to slash jobs, as they have terminated 47 union positions at OMNI and City TV. This is part of a labour reduction trend from Canada’s biggest media corporations, and the result will be less local news, while employees are asked to do more with less resources. 19 Unifor members at OMNI agreed to voluntary severance packages, while 25 others will be laid off and 3 positions will be eliminated by attrition. The lay

Courtesy: Andrew Meade The federal government is reportedly planning to gut the Online Streaming Act by removing all funding requirements for American streamers. This is a devasting blow to Canadian news media as that funding was set to create $2 billion for our media ecosystem. The news comes after a letter from the Attorney General's office was made public by The Wire Report. This decision comes after the CRTC was asked in June by Mark Carney's Liberals, to review their rul

Courtesy: Frédéric de Bellaing Elsy Moufarrej has always taken the road of solidarity. A union activist from the outset of her career in radio and television, she played an integral role in forming the Union of Journalists in Lebanon (UJL) in 2019. “Journalists need support from their union because sometimes you are fighting against your government. You are fighting together to protect your rights,” Moufarrej told Media Action Plan. Leading up to the formation of UJL, Lebanon

Courtesy: Canva The Government of Canada have ordered the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review recent steps to modernize the Broadcasting Act. On May 21st, the CRTC announced that foreign digital broadcasters with over $25 million in annual Canadian revenue will be forced to contribute 15% of that revenue to the creation of Canadian and indigenous content – an increase from the previous 5%. This new level of contribution would have created rou

Courtesy: Frédéric Moreau de Bellaing One of the most passionate press freedom advocates Unifor Canada has ever produced, Jennifer Moreau, now has a bigger voice on the international stage. Almost ten years after colleagues successfully urged her to run for a vacant seat on the International Federation of Journalists executive committee, Moreau has just been elected as Vice-President of IFJ. She was chosen as 1 of 2 Vice-Presidents, which comes with a place on the influentia

Courtesy: AP/RickRycroft Australia continues to be a global leader in digital sovereignty! Recently, their government proposed a 2.25% tax on Meta, Google & TikTok, to fund local news. That tax would be reduced if platforms agree to pay publishers directly for their intellectual property. “We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The new digital tax would raise between 200-250 million Australian dolla

Courtesy: senatorcardozo.ca The Honourable Andrew Cardozo and Howard Law have co-authored a new report on making Canadian news media sustainable. Senator Cardozo was appointed to the senate in 2022 and is a member of the Progressive Senate Group. Howard Law is the former Unifor Media Director and the author of mediapolicy.ca. The report stresses that Canada’s patchwork of news funding measures have become a de facto permanent pillar of media policy and now requires a more c